What Germans Do in Spain and England, and Just Why Resistance is Futile

A gorgeous sunny day here – but still a little under the weather, AND still getting used to the hamster-wheel, endless Sisyphean labors of reading, digesting, and churning out this daily foamy meringue of historical blathering and fuzzy, logical whatnot.

I suppose I’m blogging it for the whole world to see and not keeping it as my own private vice because doing it publicly helps to force me to ACTUALLY READ FOR AND WRITE IN the blog – rather than just thinking about what a good idea it would be to read Gibbon and muse upon the implications historical etc etc.

Also I kind of get off on the weird way Gibbon’s 1780’s diction and writing style kind of subconsciously blurs and seeps into my own. There are worse things that could happen to you than having an accomplished prose writer like Gibbon influence you.

Anyways… on to today…

Gibbons continues briefly with continental barbarian politics – looking at Spain and the Riviera basically and the German Visigoths (who will hold Spain for 300 years until the Arab Jihad catches up with them in the 700’s). Then, Gibbons warms to a particularily poignant, yet tricky period of English history – the Anglo-Saxon invasions and the slow forced repatriation/migration/conquest (maybe like the Native American nations in the U.S.) of the native celtic Britons – pinning the celts in the far western corners of the island (Wales) and across the ocean (French Bretagne – “Little Britain).

The Story

Visigoths in Spain – The Church and Legislatures 400’s-700’s

Gibbon doesn’t particularly like historians of German Spain – “obscure and barren… annals” – and is not impressed with Isidore of Seville

Gibbons compares to France – where Synods of the church disappeared and the clergy had “degenerated into fighting and hunting barbarians”

Spain on the other hand was well regulated and systematized, if not more moral – with the whole peninsula brought together annually for councils – in Toledo

Gibbon: “The bishops of Spain respected themselves and were respected… their indossulable union disguised their vices and confirmed their authority”

The acts of the Councils of Toledo Gibbons considers the most authentic records of the church and constitution of Visigothic Spain

Visigoths in Spain – Law Code 400’s-700’s

Out of the Toledo councils – Code of the Visigoths

When Visigoths made the highly political move from Arian Christianity to Nicene (Catholic) Christianity under Reccared – less reason for native Roman populations left to want to revolt – although Byzantine (East Roman) territory still lay on Spanish peninsula

Gibbons doesn’t like the Visigothic Law Code but notes that Montesquieu in Spirit of the Law detests it

Britain – End of Rome early 400’s

a story “familiar to most illiterate and obscure to the most learned of my readers”

Gibbon declined to comment further

Britain – Invasion of Saxons 449

a gradual invasion, of many peoples (Jutes, Angles, Saxons)

Gibbons says it was the invitation of a celtic king Vortigern for a kind of small mercenary force of Saxons to help him maintain domination over the former Roman province

the German barbarians (ex. Hengist, Horsa) from the continent kept on coming and coming, taking massive bites out of the celtic kingdom along the Eastern sea coast along river estuaries

Britain – Est of 7 Kingdoms of the Saxons 455-582

Gibbon calls it “conquest of a new world” – the celts presumably filling in for Native Americans and the Anglo-Saxons doing what Anglo-Saxons do in a new world – take and settle

the Heptarchy (7 kingdoms) resulted

Britain – State of Celtic-Roman Britain

Roman Britain – in Gibbons view – “was molded into the elegant and servile form of a Roman province”

degenerated into civil factions, and celt against roman

so easy to conquer

Britain – Resistance and Flight – to France, to Wales

Gibbon: “the British Islands, alone and unaided (after the Roman’s departure) maintained a long, vigorous struggle against the formidable pirates”

Eventually forced into the far West – Wales – where they remained un-conquered for centuries

Some emigrated to the peninsula of Brittany in France – it becoming “Little Britain”

19th cent. painting of Tristan and Isolde by Draper - Tristan is a Cornish Knight - and possibly a model of cowardice for Gibbon - altho Gibbon really isn't making much sense here - as a historian

Quoteable Gibbons – Cornish Cowards

I had no idea Cornwall (the southwestern-most tip of England) was home to craven, lily-livered, yellow-bellied wimps. And the more I looked at it, the less I believed it was ever true. Gibbon has a typically central-England-o-centric take on the population of more distant parts of the island – ie the closer to London you’re from, the better a person you are.

The cowardice part is troublesome to pin down – I’m not exactly sure what Gibbon’s getting at – this seems to be more of a wink-and-nod-after-dinner-raconteur’s take on history, than that of a careful scholar’s.

Gibbons makes an obscure reference to Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur (see here) where a Cornwall knight is supposed to be known as the greatest coward in the land, and to Sir Tristram – which would seem to point to the Tristan and Iseult stories (see here – Tristan being a Cornish knight).

The bravest warriors, who preferred exile to slavery, found a secure refuge in the mountains of Wales: the reluctant submission of Cornwall was delayed for some ages; (135)

and this from the footnote:

Note 135
Cornwall was finally subdued by Athelstan (A.D. 927-941), who planted an English colony at Exeter, and confined the Britons beyond the river Tamar. See William of Malmesbury, 1. ii. in the Scriptores post Bedam, p. 50. The spirit of the Cornish knights was degraded by servitude: and it should seem, from the romance of Sir Tristram, that their cowardice was almost proverbial.

(DEF ii vol 3. pp. 498, fn. 135)

Quoteable Gibbons – Gibbons hates Gildas

Gibbon’s doesn’t think much of Gildas, either, obviously.

A monk, who in the profound ignorance of human life has presumed to exercise the office of historian, strangely disfigures the state of Britain at the time of its separation from the Western empire. Gildas describes in florid language…

(DEF ii vol 3. pp. 490)

One of those buildings that would've been filled with hypocrites. Photo of an actual Visigothic Church - San Pedro de la Nave, Spain

Quoteable Gibbons – Spanish Bishops Hypocrites All

And Gibbons didn’t much like the Spanish Visigothic Church either, when it came to that. As a close relative of mine (and apparently Gibbon) used to say of the Church “they’re all hypocrites.”

The bishops of Spain respected themselves, and were respected by the public: their indissoluble union disguised their vices, and confirmed their authority; and the regular discipline of the church introduced peace, order, and stability into the government of the state.

(DEF ii vol.3 p.491)

and…

Notice the typical use of the Subtle Gibbonian Inserted Phrase – “and sometimes practised” – Gibbon had quite the quick verbal knife there – I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his wit.

The clergy, who anointed their lawful prince, always recommended, and sometimes practised, the duty of allegiance: and the spiritual censures were denounced on the heads of the impious subjects who should resist his authority, conspire against his life, or violate by an indecent union the chastity even of his widow.

(DEF ii vol.3 p.492)

Statue of Boudica in Westminster London - English glorification of their Celtic roots - statue erected under Prince Albert 1905

Last Word…

Nationalism – a Sport NOT for the Faint of Heart

The great lesson of history – if I can be so bold as to disclose it to non-historians of the world – is that history is pretty much always WRITTEN BY THE CONQUERORS, not the conquered. Written/Oral History teaches over and over again “Resistance is Futile”, because, well, resistance WAS futile, wasn’t it? – I mean, history tells us they lost, didn’t they?

Nationalism – a tricky thing when you come from an island (read: England) repeatedly conquered within historical memory. You have to be able to vehemently defend your conquered aboriginal stock, while at the same time maintaining an equally adamant and opposite enthusiasm for the conquerors. Gibbon grapples with this in these last 10 pages especially and manages an interesting dance around the whole topic.

Its tricky for the British because, well, like the French (be even more so) they are a composite people – There were “original” Celts – Britons – although these people had conquered (800 B.C.E.?) earlier peoples who had conquered (1100 B.C.E.?) earlier ones etc. etc. etc. in wave after wave (see Bronze Age Britain , also Roman provincials, Anglo-Saxon invaders, and finally Norman (French-Norwiegan-Vikings). It’s hard to know who to root for – and actually Gibbon roots for the Home team, no matter who they are, at first right up to the point they are thoroughly conquered (“Resistance is Futile”) and then he roots for the conquerors against the next wave of invaders. Ultimately, any self-respecting 18th century Englishman would have wanted to trace his roots back to solid Norman Invasion (1066) stock, if pressed on the issue.

It must be a habit of conquerors to despise and abhor those they conquer, yet somehow draw a necessary, unique national identity from their conquered nations. English are rabidly pro-Norman, yet refer to themselves as an Anglo-Saxon nation and praise a celtic woman general Boudica. The French are a mixture of German, Celt and Roman and have similar difficulties, Mexico idolizes the aztecs which gives them a portion of their national identity in the Latin New World, yet has strong prejudices against their own citizens who look more “indio” than “castellano” (Spanish).

A tendency to subjugate then romanticize the losers in a fight seems to me to be more than a fluke and maybe is a basic human trait – showing how closely love and hate, violence and favor are in human nature. And Gibbon seems to struggle with the whole thing (well, subconsciously) a great deal – national identity that is.

"Resistance is Futile". Borg Cube spaceship from Star Trek the Next Generation.

Responses

In my nonacademic opinion the anglo saxon invasion is akin to the illegal immigration of the mexicans from south of the border. A nearby large and mostly rural population hears of a mythical land that is developed, has available land and the. Natives aren’t doing much to stop the emmigration. The anglos saxons and jutes in britain spread the word how good things were and brought over additional family members. Except back then, and unlike today, they just took whatever they wanted from the disorganized and mostly defenseless natives. 150 years after the first anglo reached the shores of btitainnia, it was completely a teutionic nation. Sort of like how LA and Texas are primarily hispanic these days. I don’t believe that nonsense of some king asking for their help, maybe he did, buut the anglos took over for the same reasons mexicans are. Risking their lives to cross the border today.